Fosd!
A gray dove knocked on the window.
“…what?”
Decan turned his head in surprise.
It was a pigeon sent from the silver shield. What surprised Decan was that the pigeon, which only went to designated locations, flew all the way to Duke Piellion’s residence.
Shake!
Decan hurriedly opened the window and welcomed the pigeon.
“Guuuu.”
The pigeon that escaped Decan’s hand quickly entered the room and hovered around Lasilia. It was not a bird that could speak. But she could tell he was trying to say something.
“I guess you have something to give me.”
“Coo.”
Lasilia held out her hand, and the dove placed its paw gently on it. A small piece of rolled up paper was tied to his ankle. Lasilia untied the string that bound her paper. She then handed the paper to Decan.
“Take it. Since it came to you, it would be right for you to check it.”
“Ah… Yes, you shouldn’t check unless it’s a shield.”
Decan’s expression as he received the paper looked quite shocked.
“However?”
“Even the birds know that…”
It was a bird that had been strictly trained using magic. Silver Shield clearly knew that secret messages used should only go to precisely designated places. It was impossible for her to hand over a letter unless she knew her face. However, he flew to Lasilia on his own and calmly handed over the secret letter. Her gaze never left Lasilia, and she looked somehow bright and bright today.
“It sounds like you shouldn’t be friendly to me.”
“Exactly… But it seems like this is beyond my capabilities.”
Decan smiled for a moment as he saw the pigeon carefully rubbing its head against Lasilia.
“You might think it’s a good thing. “If the enemy launches a war bomb, they will be able to easily intercept the information as long as Her Majesty the Empress is present.”
Lasilia gave her answer with a wry smile.
“Then I will check.”
Decan unfolded the thinly rolled paper. Inside, there was clearly written slang that only knights belonging to the Silver Shield could read.
“…Unbelievable!”
After finishing reading, Decan crumpled the paper. The paper that she wanted to crush in her fist turned into ash and disappeared when she opened her hand.
“You must return immediately, Your Majesty.”
The secret letter must have contained serious content.
“What’s going on?”
“It says Your Majesty has been transformed. And that too in a place other than the imperial palace.”
“What? Why suddenly?”
The blue moon has already passed. She gave the emperor no reason to transform into a demon.
“I don’t know why. Anyway, your Majesty needs the Empress now.”
If it had been before, she would have hesitated. His first thought might have been that she, a fake, couldn’t do anything.
Not now.
Rather than feeling conflicted about whether she was real or not, she was more concerned about getting going.
“Lead the way.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will hurry my steps.”
Lasilia wrapped the hem of her dress in her hand and started running.
* * *
“Crazy! What do you mean?”
The silver shield moved nimbly. News has already reached the imperial palace that the emperor has mutated and is wandering around the capital. Except for the fact that Lescal was now looking at Ryan, who had read the secret letter instead of half-heartedly stamping the imperial seal, there was no flaw in the communication network that the silver shield moved quickly.
“Your majesty…? What on earth is going on?”
“Am I mutating?”
“That’s right. When did you do it? No, why?”
“…If I mutate, will the empress come?”
“Yes?”
Half a day has already passed since the Empress was away. Lescal got up from his chair every ten minutes and paced around his office, eventually moving to the Empress’s palace. The empress’s palace’s reception room became the office. Audiences were held here, and imperial secretaries and palace officials were also invited here. Even though the work that had been postponed on purpose was completed in a hurry, there was still no word from the Empress that she would return. The fact that the Empress would come to him if he transformed meant that he had briefly thought about whether that would make her come back. However, the moment Lescal said those words, both people’s expressions changed at the same time. Demons have appeared in the capital. Silver Shield found out about this and moved the communication network. Since the Empress had a decan attached to her, she would have been the first to be contacted. The Empress believes that Lescal may have mutated…
Bang!
Lescal got up from his seat.
“Where is the immature bird now? Did he follow the Empress?”
“Oh, Phoenix? I don’t know about that either. I will ask the empress’ palace maid.”
“Hurry. And the Royal Guard,”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
Since the silver shield moved, the imperial guard in charge of the capital’s security must have already headed towards the place where the demons were said to have appeared. However, Lescal planned to lead the Guard himself and move. He had a bad feeling.
He was his mutated self, he said. He meant that if it wasn’t him, another demon had appeared on the continent. He was just about to find his true companion and feel its presence. However, as if he was targeting that moment, attempts were made to separate him and his companion. The temple began arguing over the sign, and this time a demon pretending to be himself appeared. In fact, the Empress did not even realize that he was her companion and did not yet accept him. In this situation, where every day was like a tightrope walk, interruptions kept coming. There was no way he was feeling okay.
“Whoa…”
As he breathed, all the senses in his body became more sensitive. The tips of his fingernails were slightly red. Lescal knew that if he took just one more step, the transformation would begin.
“For now.”
For now, he could bear it. Because something hadn’t happened to the empress yet.
“Your majesty!”
Ryan, who had disappeared to call Yvette, appeared with Yvette. Yvette was holding a small phoenix with both hands. Judging by the fact that his feathers were half wet, it looked like he had taken a nice bath.
“You know what to do.”
As soon as he made eye contact with Pipi, Lescal spoke out loud.
“Beep!”
Pipi shook off the remaining moisture from his body with a solemn look on his face. He meant to understand. Pipi had to quickly fly over and inform Lasilia of the situation so that she would not be lured away by the other demons.
“Don’t hesitate and fly away right away.”
“Beep! Beep!”
Pipi, who had lost his temper, suddenly flew up.
“Phee!”
When Pipi, who had flown through the window, screamed, soon a flock of birds filled the sky. Pipi climbed on the falcon, whose wings seemed to be the strongest among them all.
“Beep!”
The hawk carrying Pipi instantly flew into the air. At the same time, the birds followed suit and disappeared. Ryan stood behind him and silently raised her thumb. Even though it was that small, the phoenix was still a phoenix. She felt incredibly reassured when she was on this side.
“The Royal Guard is ready, Your Majesty. I left my sword and armor where I was riding my horse.”
“I am going right now.”
“Yes.”
After a while, a whole squadron of guards came out of the main gate of the imperial palace on horseback. The sight of golden tassels hanging from blue armor cutting through the wind along with a flag of the same color was very impressive. The most notable figure among them was, of course, the emperor who stood at the forefront.
* * *
“I think the problem was that you were away for too long.”
Serven was serious.
“It’s already been more than five hours since you left the imperial palace. I think His Majesty lost patience at some point.”
She was never joking. After the day the trial was canceled, Lescal did not sleep for three days. She knew that a body mixed with demon blood was different from an ordinary human. Even taking that into account, it was too severe. Lescal’s attention was focused on the empress’ palace. Even though he had seven tracking magic circles installed, he didn’t seem to feel safe. The reason there were seven magic circles was because if you drew the same magic more times, there was a risk of the mana becoming tangled. In other words, if there had been no such danger, no one knows whether the magic circle would have been seventy or seven hundred. Nevertheless, Lescal accepted the Empress’s request to visit the House of Piellion alone. It was clear that he was holding back desperately to avoid doing something that caught the Empress’s eyes. It was as if she could see Lescal, who was sitting quietly in his office, getting more and more nervous, and Ryan, who was swallowing dry saliva while looking at Lescal. No, because of that, Lescal would have undergone a mutation and run out.
“So all you have to do is return as quickly as possible.”
The serious expression became anxious. So she realized that she was actually telling herself that she just need to get back quickly.
“What is the rule that His Majesty must not be discovered to have mutated? What happens in this case?”
Lasilia asked.
“That…”
Serven looked at Decan as if he was in trouble. Decan shook his head slightly.
“You can try to erase your memories with magic. However, there are so many people that I may not be able to handle it on my own. In that case, we will have to use another method.”
Lasilia’s expression darkened. The other way was to eliminate witnesses by killing them.
“There must be something called public sentiment. If that happens, won’t there be a backlash against the imperial family?”
“That’s the biggest problem. Moreover, these days, we don’t know how the temple will turn out. Since this is the place where the complaint was written that Her Majesty’s mark has disappeared, they may try to take issue with that and hold Her Majesty responsible for Her Majesty’s transformation.”
“It will be a big problem in many ways.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She once again felt the weight that a companion must carry.
‘If I were real… I will never be able to leave.’
It would be impossible to ignore the emperor, who suffered a transformation just because he was away for a few hours. Lasilia nodded her head, clasping her hands together.
“Going as quickly as possible will reduce the number of witnesses by at least one. Tell me to drive the carriage faster.”
“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”
Doo doo doo doo!
The coachman increased his speed. The shaking also became more severe. So she almost missed the small sound of tapping on the window.
“Beep! Beep!”
“Ah… Pipi?”
“Beep!”
The speed of the carriage was so fast that Pipi was struggling with his small wings. He said he got out of the falcon when she saw the carriage, and suddenly the carriage sped up.
“I will open it.”
Decan hurriedly opened the window. The window had to be pushed from the inside out, so Pipi almost hit her head on the window frame.
“Beep!”
Pipi lost his temper and jumped onto Lasilia’s lap.
“What’s going on, Pipi?”
“Beep? Beep… beep! Beep!”
“Hmm?”
Lasilia was dumbfounded by the unexpected words.
“Is that true?”
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on March, 24.
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